Old Records Never Die - One Man's Quest for His Vinyl and His Past

Old Records Never Die - One Man's Quest for His Vinyl and His Past

In Old Records Never Die, Eric Spitznagel sets out on a quest to find the original vinyl artefacts from his past. Not just copies. The exact same records. As he embarks on his hero's journey, he reminisces about the actual records, the music and the people he listened to it with: old girlfriends, his high school pals and, most poignantly, his father and his young son. He explores the magic of music and memory as he interweaves his adventures in record-culture with questions about our connection to our past and whether we can ever really recapture it.

Reviews

"Memories are far more indelible when married to the physical world, and Spitznagel proves the point in this vivid book. We love vinyl records because they combine the tactile, the visual, the seeable effects of age and care and carelessless. When he searches for the records he lost and sold, Spitznagel istrying to return to a tangible past, and he details that process with great sensitivity and impact." Dave Eggers, author of"The Circle" Spitznagel's quest for the actual records of his youth could have been a gimmick. Instead it's a touching exploration of loss: of opportunities, of loved ones, of the ability to even remotely discern what's hip. Hilarious and heartfelt, this is a book for anyone who has ever spent entire years of their lives haunting record stores, dissecting the merits of Doolittle, and studying liner notes with the intense focus of a Talmudic scholar. Jancee Dunn, author of "But Enough About Me" I m working on a list of things that make me laugh harder than Eric Spitznagel s writing. So far, it includes old Albert Brooks movies, videos of animals riding bicycles and well, that s about it. What I m trying to say is: Eric Spitznagel is hilarious. And this book is perfectly Spitzagelian: Funny, smart, even a bit wistful at times. The way he feels about the Pixies that s similar to the way I feel about Spitznagel s writing. AJ Jacobs, author of "The Year of Living Biblically" A funny and heartfelt memoir about music collecting that gives birth to a new branch of social science: Gen-X archaeology. Neal Pollack, author of "Alternadad" The perfect combination of a vinyl completist's dream "and" nightmare. Patton Oswalt, author of"Zombie Spaceship Wasteland" "" "To say "Old Records Never Die" is a book about music is to say "On The Road" is a book about cars. Really, Eric Spitznagel's energetic and endlessly engaging memoir is a book about the ways we seek to discover and recover our essential selves. Music lovers will love this book; unrepentant nostalgiacs, like myself, can expect to be absolutely riveted. Davy Rothbart, creator of "Found" Magazine and author of "My Heart is an Idiot" I can't remember when a book had me get out my black pen and underline so many wonderful things. Maybe never. Loss and laughter and all those denizens of sonic ghost town record stores willing but often unable to make us all whole again. Something on every page to stoke the geek heart with sad recognition and hope." Marc Spitz, author of "Poseur: A Memoir of Downtown New York City in the 90s" "Eric Spitznagel is just like Captain Ahab, if Ahab were chasing Billy Joel albums instead of a white whale. As he recounts in this very funny book, Spitznagel found way more than he bargained for. And just like Ahab, he dies in the end. (Spoiler alert.)" Rob Tannenbaum, co-author of "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution""

Author description

EricSpitznagelwrites for magazines like"Playboy, ""Esquire," "Vanity Fair," "Rolling Stone," "Men's Health," "Maxim," "Billboard," "Details," "The Believer," and the"New York Times Magazine," among many others.He's the author of six books, includingRonJeremy's bestselling autobiography"The Hardest (Working) Man In Showbiz," a project that exhausted his literary reserve of penis puns.He's also edited several humor anthologies, most recently"Care To Make Love In ThatGrossLittleSpaceBetween Cars?," which features questionable life advice from people like Louis C.K., Zach Galifianakis, and Dave Eggers.His latest book, "Old Records Never Die" about his attempt to track down all the vinyl records from his past will be out in April, 2016."